Prohibited and Restricted Items in USPS Military Mail

Prohibited items in USPS military mail fall into two groups: a short list of things you can never send to an APO, FPO, or DPO address under any circumstances, and a longer list of items that are only allowed when specific conditions are met. Alcohol, most tobacco and nicotine products, hemp and CBD, explosives and ammunition, flammable liquids, and controlled substances are banned outright. Firearms, lithium batteries, aerosols, alcohol-based perfumes, and perishable foods are conditionally allowed. On top of both lists, each destination ZIP code carries its own host-country prohibitions. Knowingly mailing a prohibited item is a federal offense with a baseline penalty of up to one year in prison and a fine, and packages can be seized, destroyed, or returned at your expense.¹

What You Can Never Send

These items are prohibited at every APO, FPO, and DPO destination, regardless of the recipient’s ZIP code or the host country:

Alcohol in any form — beer, wine, liquor, or any beverage or liquid containing alcohol intended for consumption.
Explosives and ammunition, including gunpowder, fireworks, loaded cartridges, and any detonating materials.
Flammable liquids such as gasoline and lighter fluid.
Controlled substances, including prescription medications without proper documentation.
Hemp and CBD products of every kind: oils, edibles, and topicals. USPS specifically bans hemp-based products from mail destined for APO, FPO, and DPO addresses.²

The USPS Domestic Mail Manual requires that any hazardous, restricted, or perishable material bound for an overseas military or diplomatic post office comply with Publication 52, the International Mail Manual, and any additional Department of Defense conditions published in the Postal Bulletin.³

Penalties escalate with intent. The default for knowingly mailing a nonmailable item is a fine, up to a year in prison, or both. If you act with intent to harm a person or damage property, the ceiling rises to 20 years. If someone dies as a result, the sentence can go up to life.¹

Destination-Specific Bans by ZIP Code

Every APO, FPO, and DPO ZIP code has its own additional list of prohibited items based on the laws of the host country and any Department of Defense restrictions for that installation. Pork products are barred at some destinations. Certain religious materials or politically sensitive items are barred at others. Plenty of goods that ship without issue inside the United States cannot enter specific overseas bases.

The authoritative source is the “Overseas Military/Diplomatic Mail” table in the current Postal Bulletin, updated regularly by USPS. Look up the recipient’s ZIP code before you pack.⁴ An item that ships without trouble to a base in Germany may be prohibited at a base in the Middle East. Skipping this check is the most common way legal-looking packages get held up.

Tobacco, Vapes, and the Narrow Personal Exception

Cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and electronic nicotine delivery systems, including vapes and e-cigarettes, are all classified as nonmailable under federal law. USPS cannot accept a package it knows or has reasonable cause to believe contains these items.⁵

There is one narrow exception. An individual, not a business, may mail tobacco for a personal, noncommercial purpose such as returning a damaged product to a manufacturer. Even then, the mailing has to satisfy every one of the following:

The package weighs no more than 10 ounces.
The sender does not exceed 10 such mailings in any 30-day window.
USPS verifies that both the sender and the recipient are adults.

For a package headed to a military address, USPS will only transfer it for delivery to the designated APO or FPO after age verification is complete.⁵ Violations carry civil penalties of ten times the retail value of the items shipped, plus possible criminal fines and up to a year of imprisonment. In practice, this exception is not a route for care packages; sending cigarettes or a vape to a service member is not permitted.

Firearms

Firearms are not universally banned in military mail, but the paperwork requirements are substantial and the destination controls whether shipment is possible at all. In the Postal Bulletin table, ZIP codes with Footnote F prohibit firearm exports outright. Where firearms are not banned, the sender must present an export license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives before USPS will accept the package.⁶

There is a specific allowance for service members. A service member stationed overseas for at least 60 days may mail up to three rifles or shotguns back to a home address as unaccompanied baggage, without an import permit, provided the firearms are for personal use and the mailing is tied to a permanent change of station or release from active duty. Firearms with proof of prior U.S. ownership do not count against the three-firearm limit. The service member still has to complete ATF Form 6A and obtain the required permit. Mailing more than three firearms requires ATF Form 6 Part 2 and compliance with Defense Transportation Regulations.⁶

Conditional Items: Batteries, Aerosols, Perfumes, Perishables

Lithium Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries may only ship to APO, FPO, and DPO addresses when they are properly installed inside the device they power. A battery packed alongside a device, or shipped on its own, is prohibited. So is any used, damaged, or defective device containing a lithium battery.⁷ Within those limits:

Standard lithium-ion shipments are capped at 4 cells (each up to 20 Wh) or 2 batteries (each up to 100 Wh) per shipment, not both.
Very small lithium-ion shipments are capped at 4 cells or 2 batteries, each no more than 2.7 Wh.
No more than 2 mailpieces containing lithium batteries may travel per consignment.
No lithium battery markings are permitted on the outside of the package.

The practical takeaway: send a working laptop or phone with the battery inside, and do not add a spare battery to the box.

Aerosols and Alcohol-Based Perfumes

Aerosol cans are heavily restricted because pressurized containers can fail at altitude, and most military mail moves by air. Whether a particular aerosol product is mailable depends on its hazardous materials classification, and many are prohibited from air transport entirely. Perfumes and colognes containing alcohol face a parallel problem: alcohol-based liquids are classified as flammable, which limits them to surface transportation. Because military mail to most destinations relies on air transit, most fragrances effectively cannot be shipped.

Perishable Foods

Perishable foods are technically mailable, but the sender bears all risk of spoilage. Commercially packaged, shelf-stable items with a long expiration date are the safest choice. Homemade goods should be vacuum-sealed in airtight containers so leaks do not damage other mail sharing the cargo hold. Ground shipments to some destinations take several weeks, so anything requiring refrigeration within a month is a poor candidate for a care package.

Size and Weight Limits Vary by ZIP Code

There is no single weight or size limit for military mail. Maximum dimensions are assigned per APO, FPO, or DPO ZIP code, based on the destination’s physical infrastructure and transportation capacity, and they can differ sharply from one base to the next.⁸ Common codes include:

Restriction I3: mail must fit in a sack, with a maximum of 27 inches long, 14 inches wide, and 14 inches tall.
Restriction J: parcels cannot exceed 108 inches in combined length and girth.
Restriction Q: 66 pounds maximum, with a maximum length of 42 inches and combined length and girth of 72 inches.

A base with regular cargo flights may accept larger packages, while a remote outpost may be limited to what fits in a mail sack. Check the recipient’s ZIP code in the Postal Bulletin before you choose a box.

Customs Form Descriptions That Cause Rejection

Every package to a military address needs a customs declaration. Hand-completed customs forms from earlier eras are obsolete and cannot be used. You can either create the form and shipping label online, or fill out PS Form 2976-R by hand as a worksheet and hand it to a postal clerk, who enters the information and prints the actual label. PS Form 2976-R is not a standalone customs form.⁹¹⁰ Priority Mail Express shipments to military addresses use PS Form 2976-B instead of the standard 2976-A.

The form requires an itemized inventory: each item listed individually with a specific description, its weight, and its fair market value in U.S. dollars. Writing “gift” or “care package” in the description field causes delays or rejection. Customs officials expect entries such as “cotton socks, 6 oz, $8.00” or “pre-packaged granola bars, 12 oz, $5.00.” Accurate values also matter if you later need to file an insurance claim.

The address itself must include the recipient’s name, rank, unit or Postal Service Center number, the APO/FPO/DPO designation, the correct two-letter state abbreviation (AA for Armed Forces Americas, AE for Armed Forces Europe/Middle East/Africa, or AP for Armed Forces Pacific), and the ZIP+4. Do not write the name of the host country anywhere on the address. An incomplete or incorrectly formatted address can strand a package at a sorting facility with no clear path forward.¹⁰¹¹

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1716 – Injurious Articles as Nonmailable
2
United States Postal Service. Publication 52 Revision – Hemp-based Products Update
3
Postal Explorer. Domestic Mail Manual 703 – Special Standards
4
United States Postal Service. What Are the Specific Restrictions for Military Mail
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1716E – Tobacco Products as Nonmailable
6
USPS Postal Explorer. Publication 52 – Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail – 631 Firearms
7
Postal Explorer. USPS Packaging Instruction 9E – Lithium Metal and Lithium-ion Cells and Batteries – International and APO/FPO/DPO
8
United States Postal Service. Postal Bulletin 22700 – Overseas Military/Diplomatic Mail
9
Postal Explorer. 123 Customs Forms and Online Shipping Labels
10
United States Postal Service. Military and Diplomatic Mail
11
USPS. How Do I Address Military Mail